Jean-Michel Jarre shared this video, sharing his thoughts on what he calls the ‘Rolls Royce of analog synthesizers’, the Schmidt Synthesizer.

The Schmidt Synthesizer is a monster eight-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with digital control and preset memories. Schmidt recently announced that they were making another batch of 25 of the synths, with about 50 already in the wild.

In the last decade, Jarre has done a series of concerts using a massive collection of rare analog gear, performing his early classics. Here’s an example, from Oxygéne Live in Paris, December 2007:

If I had US$20k to spend on a synth, it would really come down to either a Dotcom System 110 or the Schmidt. As much as I would love the modular, in the end, it would be the Schmidt. There are several reasons:
1) Polyphony. That is an advantage that is unbeatable for how I would use the synth.
2) Patch store and recall.
3) I don’t need a hardware sequencer, all of my sequencing would be from the DAW.
4) The kind of music I do and how I do it is just much more suited for the Schmidt than a modular. I do electronic classical and covers of songs I like. I work entirely “on the box.” The synth is the sound source I make the music with.

With that said, if I had $40k to spend, I would get one of each. Yep, one can dream…

“Nothing innovating or interesting about a synth only a few people can afford. ”

Like the Moog Modular when it came out, or the Yamaha CS-80, or the Fairlight? They all cost as much as a house, and musicians used them to revolutionize music.

Great musicians can make music with cheap toys (see Kraftwerk) – but most prefer to work with great instruments, and there’s nothing elitist about great musicians of all types wanting to play a great instrument.